Double Identity (novel)

Double Identity
Author(s)	Margaret Peterson Haddix
Country	United States
Language	English
Publisher	Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Publication date	August 2005
Media type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages	218 (Paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 978-1-4177-7265-0

Double Identity is a 2005 young adult novel by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

Plot summary

Bethany Cole is living a normal life until her parents, Walter and Hillary, load her into their car at midnight and drive her hours away from their home. They reach Sanderfield, Illinois, where Bethany is introduced to her aunt Myrlie Wilkers, whom Bethany had never met before. When Bethany's dad talks to Myrlie, Bethany overhears her father say "She doesn't know anything about Elizabeth." Bethany realizes that her parents are abandoning her without an explanation of why they are leaving her with Myrlie, she begrudgingly settled in. Myrlie shows Bethany the way to a room for her grandchildren, that has never been used. Myrlie takes her back downstairs for some food and somehow guesses all of Bethany's favorite foods. The next day, Bethany tells Myrlie that she is a swimmer, so Myrlie takes her to the YMCA to swim. While they are there, one of Myrlie's friends notices Bethany and mentions that she thought Bethany was Elizabeth. This is enough to spark Bethany's interest in Elizabeth.

When she and Myrlie come back to the house, Bethany retreats upstairs to change into her clothes. When she comes back downstairs, she overhears Myrlie on the phone begging Walter to allow her to tell Bethany who Elizabeth was. When Bethany storms into the kitchen and confronts her, Myrlie says that she promised Walter that she would not tell. Although she very much wants to.

The next day, Walter calls early in the morning. When Bethany asks who Elizabeth was, he has her put Myrlie on the phone. When Myrlie finishes talking with Walter, she tells Bethany that Elizabeth was her sister who died in a tragic car crash. Hillary was driving the car and felt responsible for the crash.

Joss, Myrlie's daughter, comes to talk to Bethany. Joss and Elizabeth were the best of friends. At first, Joss mistakes Bethany for Elizabeth, noting their extreme resemblance. After a long talk about Elizabeth, they watch old videos of Joss and Elizabeth as children. When Bethany sees Elizabeth, she realizes that they are identical, except for a small scar on Elizabeth's lip. When the three of them play cards, Joss accidentally calls Bethany "Elizabeth". The next day, Myrlie receives a package with four forged birth certificates from different states and ten thousand dollars cash. A note accompanying it explains Walter and Hillary's reasons for leaving Bethany with Myrlie.

Soon after, Hillary calls, asking for Elizabeth. Bethany grabs the phone and tries to reassure her mother while Joss attempts to trace the call. Hillary tells Bethany, thinking she is the dead Elizabeth, that if they save some of her cells, they can make a clone of her. Bethany realizes that she is Elizabeth's clone, which is why she likes all the same things and looked exactly like her. Her parents even raised her in a similar environment with the same toys to try to replicate their first daughter.

Over the next few days, Bethany encounters a mysterious man. First, he offers to give her a ride home after she trips and falls, injuring herself. Bethany is panicked that he knows her name, but Joss comes to find her. Then Joss's old friend Bridgie, who is now a police officer, finds them and takes them home. Later, the same mysterious man, this time identified as "Dalton," comes to Myrlie's house on Halloween and asks for Walter. A mysterious car also drives by the house several times.

A few days later, Joss, Myrlie, and Bethany later go to the County Fair, where they see Bethany's parents. Wondering at their presence, they soon become aware that Dalton is at the fair too. It is revealed that Dalton Van Dyne gave Bethany's father money to create a clone of Van Dyne, because he felt a clone would be the only person who loved him. Instead of creating that clone, Walter created a clone of Elizabeth, believing that while Van Dyne would have another chance, Elizabeth wouldn't. When Bethany realizes this, she tells him, but the entire town hears it as well.

In the epilogue, Bethany is thirteen and living in Sanderfield. She explains to the reader that her parents made four embryos cloned from Elizabeth and implanted three of them into three surrogates and one into Hillary. The babies of the surrogates died soon after birth, but Bethany, her mother's baby, survived.

The book ends with the family planting a ginkgo in honor of Bethany next to the trees that were planted for Elizabeth and Joss.

Main characters

Bethany Cole

The protagonist of the novel, Bethany is 12 years old at its start. She is Elizabeth's younger sister and clone, and the daughter of Walter and Hillary. She is an avid swimmer, and wears glasses.

When her parents leave her at Myrlie's home, she learns of Elizabeth's existence and eventually deduces that she is her clone. At the end of the novel she is 13 and lives happy with her family.

Myrlie Wilkers

Myrlie is Bethany's maternal aunt and Joss's mother. Bethany is left at her house at the beginning of the novel. She is a kindergarten teacher. She wants to tell Bethany about Elizabeth, but can't.

Joss Wilkers

Joss is Bethany's cousin and Myrlie's daughter. She was Elizabeth's best friend and cousin, did gymnastics with her, and was in the car when she died. Due to the accident, she was hostitalized for several months. She is now a minister.

Walter Krull

Walter is Bethany's father. Throughout the book, he goes by "Walter Cole." He was paid to create a clone of Dalton Van Dyne, but when Van Dyne was jailed, he used the money to clone his deceased daughter, Elizabeth.

Hillary Krull

Hillary is Bethany's mother. Throughout the book, she goes by "Hillary Cole." She seems unbalanced and calls Bethany at random intervals while she is at Myrlie's. Hillary feels guilty for the deaths of Elizabeth and Myrlie's husband because she was driving the car when it crashed.

Elizabeth Krull

Elizabeth Krull was the daughter of Walter and Hillary. She is Bethany's older sister, and died in a car accident on her 13th birthday along with aunt Myrlie's husband.